Gage Ryan Rutledge
We found out just days before Drake's 1st birthday that we were pregnant again! We were estatic, it took almost 11 months of trying to get pregnant with Drake.
Fast forward 9 months!
I was scheduled for an induction @ 730am on May 1st. I tried to get Dr. Ford to go for April 30, but that was a no go. Mom and dad flew in on Saturday, April 28. We got to spend the whole weekend with them before baby time! We did alot of running around and picking up last minute things.
Tuesday morning came quick. Aaron and I woke up at 530am to get ready to head to the hospital. We knew that it was going to be a long day and that I wouldnt get to eat after we got checked in, so we went to breakfast at Panera bread first. We got to the hospital at 705am and went to the ER to check in as instructed by our lovely induction letter I got in the mail. Once we got to the ER, we were told that our paperwork was already down at admissions. We make our way down the hall to admissions and boy are they PACKED! By the time it was our turn to check in, they had probably already admitted 15 people for scheduled routines. And it was now closer to 8am.
We were able to walk up to labor and delivery, which is way better than being wheeled up there in a wheel chair. I HATED being wheeled in with Drake when I was perfectly capable of walking. Up at labor and delivery, we were met by our nurse Emily. She was super sweet and showed us to our room. We were put in the same room that I had Drake in. Being in that room brought back memories of our first experience there. Emily started getting everything set up and I changed into my super cool hospital gown. Apparently the room was FREEZING because Aaron quickily ran down to the car for a jacket and beanie. There is so much paperwork and question asking involved with having a baby! I definately did not remember doing all of that the first go around.
By 9am I was done with paperwork, had an IV, was 1 1/2 cent dilated (STILL), and was started on pitocin. Apparently my hospital orders never made it from Dr. Ford's office to L&D so we went straight to 3 units of pitocin and that would be 'upped' every 60 minutes or so. I had read so many horrible pitocin stories that I kind of expected to go in, get hooked up, and feel pain immediately. That defintely was not how it went. They turned the pitocin up to 6 at 1015am, 9 at 1118am, and 12 at 1pm. I still wasnt feeling painful contractions. I could feel the tightening in my belly/back but it didnt hurt. By 1pm I was still at 1 1/2 cent dilated. UGH! My pitocin level continued to get higher and I was finally starting to feel contractions. At 220 the pitocin was upped to 15 and at 315 it was upped to 21. At the point I was feeling a good amount of pain from the contractions. I was having them every 2-4 minutes and they were lasting about a minute. At 315 Emily came in to see if I was ok with getting my epidural yet. The anestesiologist was going home for the day and while I wasnt in terrible pain just yet, I was hurting and she didnt want him to leave and then me have to wait in pain for him to get back.
My anestesiologists name was Dr. Porter. He was super nice and explained everything that needed to be explained. He got everything ready while the nureses positioned me and got Aaron a chair. He wasnt allowed to watch the procedure. If he wanted to be in there he was told he had to sit in a chair in front of me. It only took a few minutes to get everything started. Dr. Porter had a little bit of trouble getting the needle positioned (mostly because of my back labor) but once it was in, it was like heaven! If only the people who decide to go natural felt how good it was to get an epidural. But to each their own!
After the epi was in, I started to progress quickily. I was checked at 430 and was 3-4 cent dilated.
Aaron and I had agreed months prior to coming to the hopsital that we didnt want everyone hanging around in the room waiting this time. And we definately did NOT want Drake to come up to the hospital while I was laboring. I was worried enough about Drake. This was his first time away from mom and dad for such a long period of time and then to top it off, we werent going to be there to put him to bed. After my epi, we decided that if our families wanted to stop by for a QUICK visit they could do so. Drake was asleep so dad sat in the car with him while mom popped in to say hi.
Aaron was getting antsy so he went to walk around for a little while. Who can blame the poor guy. Sitting around waiting for something to happen when NOTHING is happening is slightly incredibly BORING! While he was out and about Emily came in to place an internal fetal monitor on Gages head. It's a tiny probe that is inserted in the top of his tiny little head. This monitor gets a more accurate heart rate reading and it alleviates the monitor on my belly. Gage isnt a fan of the monitor on my belly. He wiggles to much for that. While placing the monitor my water broke and at 5pm I was 5 cent dilated.
On Aaron's way back up to the room he met his parents in the lobby so they could come up and see us real quick. We were all haning around chatting when things got SUPER blurry!
Our nurse Emily along with the charge nurse Becca came RUNNING (just like you see in the movies) into our room telling me to turn onto my left side. Gage's heart rate was dropping. Aaron's parents left and they started me on an oxygen mask. Emily made sure that the heart rate monitor was still attached (which is was). Even with the oxygen, his heart rate was not regulating enough. Becca left to call Dr. Ford. The tears started rolling and an overwhelming fear fell over me. I knew that things were not the way they were supposed to. Emily tried to calm me down and explain to Aaron and I what was happening the best she could. Just a few minutes later Emily came back and explained that Dr. Ford didnt like what was happening with Gage's heart rate and that she felt that we needed to have an emergency csection.
Emergency surgery? I had never had surgery! I was scared shit less but I knew that all that mattered was getting Gage OUT! Within MINUTES there were nurses and doctors EVERYWHERE. Dr. Ford, the anestesiologist, and a pediatrition were all on their way. I was wheeled down to the OR. Aaron was right with me the whole time. I remember us stopping for a moment at the locker room. They told Aaron to go in and they'd be in shortly to explain what was happening and to get him dressed out for surgery. He kissed me good by and that was the last time I saw him until I was waking up in recovery. Like I said things were a big blur and I can only remember bits and pieces. Once in the OR, there were probably every bit of 10 nurses and doctors. The began prepping me for surgery. I was shaking like crazy. My nerves were going hay wire and I was crazy cold. The nureses were trying to be reassuring about what was happening but NOTHING can prepare you for something like this.
Dr. Ford and Dr. Porter arrived after what seemed like FOREVER. Dr. Porter tried to up my epidural so that it would be enough to get me through the surgery. As he was adminstering the meds they placed the blue curtain over me while they tested to see if I was feeling anything. Dr. Ford pinched my belly a couple of times and Dr. Porter asked me if I could feel that. I said yes and he asked what I felt. I told him that I could feel her pinching me. After adding more meds and doing the test 2 more times they said that it wasnt going to work. They were going to have to give me general anesthesia. This meant that Aaron couldnt be with me! Emily quickily ran out to tell Aaron what was happening while they started my anesthesia. The last thing I remember was the nures holding my throat. It felt like she was closing off 1/2 of my airway while they placed the mask on me (the medicine smelled really bad).
Gage was born via emergency csection at 643pm! He was healthy and that's all that mattered. Our wonderful nurse had gotten Aaron's cell phone from him before heading back to the OR. She was able to capture 2 pictures of Gage's first minutes. We really cannot thank her enough for doing that. Not being awake for my childs birth is not ideal but at least we have a couple of pictures. Not that I remember but I was told that they took Gage to the nursery and Aaron got to go with them. Aaron took pictures on his phone (because of course the camera was in our room).
I woke up in recovery a couple of hours later. Aaron was right beside me! I couldnt for the life of me tell you what we talked about or what was going on. I do remember him leaving for a minute and coming back. I could see him knocking on the door from where my bed was positioned. Shortly (I saw shortly but I really have no idea) there after I was wheeled to our post partum room (I remember being wheeled past the waiting room and seeing my dad, uncle dusty, and drake in there). L&D was packed! I was up on the overflow wing. Gage was brought to me and I was able to hold him before all of our family came in to meet our new little man. Aaron and I wanted Drake to be the first one to hold his new brother (other than us) and he was! He smiled at him and even gave him a little Drakey baby hug and kiss. I was definitely in and out of loopiness for the rest of the night. Our families got to come in and see us and the baby. No one stayed too long because they knew that I needed rest and it was getting late.
Our nurse from the day was supposed to get off at 7pm but she stayed until I was out of recovery and in my own room before she left. She was a very sweet girl! Andrea (the nursery nurse) came and got Gage. They were going to do tests and keep him for the night so that Aaron and I could sleep. She also told me that because I couldnt get out of bed, if Aaron wasnt in the room that they wanted the baby in the nursery. My new nurse (Mary) was great, she kept me up on my IV meds so I felt no pain that night. I was able to sleep (in 15 minute incremints because I was up alot) and get a little bit of rest.
I was woke up at 5am so they could take blood and I wanted my baby! Aaron went down and got him from the nursery. He was perfect and I loved him. Our hospital stay wasnt too long but I wont bore anyone with the details of that. We were able to go home 2 days later. I was surprised that they didnt keep us longer. But lets face it, hospitals SUCK and we were more than happy to go home.
**I will try and add pictures sometime soon**
